Elden Ringis the latest game by FromSoftware, which is a studio famed for making difficult games. Every time a new FromSoftware game releases, a conversation begins around the game and whether its difficulty makes it inaccessible to players. Some players would like to experience the dark fantasy stories found in games likeElden Ring, but lack the ability to keep ahead of the game’s steep difficulty curve while using a controller or keyboard.
Aneasy mode for games likeDark SoulsorElden Ringis often proposed as the answer to this accessibility problem, but some fans of the series feel this would take away from the core of the games and would diminish the player experience. The answer could instead lie in the games' controls.
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This is what Reddit user SuavePirate has been working on, as they developed an AI-assisted control scheme that uses both voice commands and facial expressions as inputs for playingElden Ring. In a clip posted to Reddit, the alternative controls can be seen working concurrently with traditional keyboard commands for moving the character around. All the other button inputs for the game have been swapped out for voice or expression macro instructions, which allow the player to attack, dodge, and even parry after getting used to the new control scheme.
The macro controls even help to streamline some of theElden Ringinputs that can be a bit more finicky on a controller or keyboard. Simply saying “heal” or “mount” will have the character perform those actions in-game without having to hold down buttons and select the correct item in the game’s HUD. In the comments on the post, SuavePirate also explained that they added more macro commands, such as “quit” for exiting the game instantly and “get naked” for immediately unequipping all the character’s armor. Surprisingly, having tounequip all the character’s armor actually comes up inElden Ring, when attempting to find the Three Fingers.
This new control scheme would surely seem alien for players that have grown up with controllers in their hands, but SuavePirate seems fairly adept with it, as they even manage to take on one of the game’s bosses. So perhaps it’s just a case of getting used to it. If a feature like this were to be adopted into all AAA games, it would be a real move towards theaccessibility that many video gamesare now pushing for.
A problem now, even for games with accessibility features, is that alternate control schemes aren’t consistent across all games in the way they often are for controller or keyboard inputs. Players using a controller can usually very quickly get to grips with a new game’s controls as they are likely similar to every other game in that genre. But players using alternate controllers are often left to map their own inputs,which can be limiting in games likeElden Ring.
Elden Ringis available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
